As the Eagles wrapped up a conditioning session back in July, Fellows called out for an overtime period.

He saw some tired, unhappy faces on the sidelines so he gathered his team and told them exactly the reason why he was pushing them so hard during the dog days of summer.

“I pulled the kids together and said one day over Thanksgiving weekend you are going to play Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and you are going to remember this day,” Fellows said. “We could stop right now or get back out there. We are going to do an overtime period cause that’s how we are going to win the state championship.”

On Saturday at Ford Field, his words weren’t lost on his players as Joel Schipper kicked a 28-yard field goal to tie the Division 3 state finals 37-37 against St. Mary’s with 2:02 left in the fourth quarter.

““He called it in the summer,” Grand Rapids Christian quarterback Alex VanDeVusse said. “We said it on the sidelines; we knew this was going to happen. We knew it was going to be a battle, we knew it was going into overtime and that’s what kept us going.”’

Fellow’s confidence may have given the Eagles an edge headed into overtime, but the extra conditioning didn’t hurt either.

The game featured a record-breaking 1,033 total yards of offense between the two teams, blowing away the previous record of 927 yards set in last year’s Division 5 finals game by Flint Powers Catholic (568) and Lansing Catholic (359).

“As soon as we got to overtime, I thought you could tell our kids went out with some bounce in their step,” Fellows said.

Overtime didn’t last long as St. Mary’s went four-and-out. Schipper hit the game-winning 27-yard field goal in Grand Rapid Christian’s lone play of the first overtime to give his team a 40-37 win and its first state title in school history.